


Nightmares

by ShahKiertai (aboxfullofocs)



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 22:33:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19029295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aboxfullofocs/pseuds/ShahKiertai
Summary: Teaser for my fanficAfter a series of bad events, V’s sleep is increasingly plagued with nightmares, and Wanderley has become quite an expert at dealing with them.





	Nightmares

 

 

## 

Wanderley was a light sleeper. He had always been. The smallest of sounds or shifts in what he saw normal was enough to spring him out of sleep. He’d learned to identify what was to be expected and what wasn’t, and with V, he had nearly memorized the summoner’s sleeping patterns.

Whenever V’s sleep was plagued by a myriad of nightmarish memories, the red-haired lightkeeper quickly woke to the change in his movements. The quick gasping and shallow breathing, the twitching and struggling, and even the soft groans and pants of pain. So, that night, when the nightmares came again, Wanderley woke to the first signs that V was having anything but a pleasant night.

In the past weeks, V’s nightmares were becoming increasingly more severe, to the point the man would often go without sleep. The exhaustion starting to affect his performance on the job, and actually leaving him at times disoriented, the demons not oblivious to V’s state and Griffon often quick-tempered to taunt and mock him for it, calling the attention of the rest of the Devil May Cry crew to it.

As a result, the red-haired man had tried to find small tricks that would help his lover sleep better. He knew it was an almost permanent sense of dread and alert that left V like this. Therefore, in an attempt to make V feel safe, Wanderley had gone as far as to get the bed against the far wall of the room and build a pillow fort on top of it. Placing the bed in a protective dark corner, where they could easily see whoever entered the room, but were hard to see themselves.

The pillow fort and blankets for added comfort.

When Wanderley suggested V slept with him there, V had been offended by it.

“Do you take me for a child?”

“It’s not for you, it’s for me!” Wanderley had been quick to dismiss. “Did you forget I got my life saved by hiding under the bed? I sleep better in pillow forts, so it will help me sleep on top of the bed.”

It was only part truth. Wanderley was quite capable of sleeping anywhere, top and under the bed. Heck, he slept up rafters while doing stakeouts. His childish side just loved the idea of a cosy pillow fort. And the fact was that the position of the bed actually had helped V sleep a bit better.

Wanderley’s half-lie was a way to help V without telling him he was helping him. As much as both V and Vergil denied it, the two men had a lot of one another. Much like Vergil, V was too stubborn to show his weak side to those around him. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable and disliked, even more, showing it, until the point he could no longer hide it or deny it. And at that point, he was usually already falling apart.

Sleeping on the pillow fort, surrounded by large pillows and soft blankets, V relaxed. Sometimes even using his lover’s chest or biceps as a pillow. He felt safer and not as exposed to that dark corner in the company of his lover.

That night, Wanderley was using V’s slender chest as his pillow when he felt the sudden shift on the summoner’s heartbeat and breathing. His senses picked the way his lover’s heart fired up, the sharp intake of air as the summoner’s breathing became shallow and hurried, and the stir. The hands that rested over Wander’s shoulder’s clenching around his skin with an iron grip. The knuckles of his hands white, nails digging into his lover’s skin, as if he was afraid that if he let go he’d drown.

Wanderley woke instantly, amber eyes looking in the dark for V’s expression, to see a brow furrowed in pain, eyes clenched shut, lips parted but teeth grinding. Beads of cold sweat ran down the pale skin. The red-head sighed and slowly dislodged himself from V’s chest, carefully trying to shift his position to lay next to V instead of on him, without waking him.

It was something he’d become a bit of an expert since that one morning he woke up the man amidst a nightmare only for V to, in his altered state, actually overpower him and nearly choke him.

The black haired man laid on his side, starting to move into the fetal position. Wanderley pulled his lover closer, ever so gently, wrapping his arms around his shivering form, and pressing his hands against his back. Right now, V appeared so small and frail, his ivory skin contrasting heavily against Wander’s own tanned skin.

“V, you’re alright. It’s okay, you’re safe, I’m here, we’re all here,” Wanderley whispered, laying his chin on top of the summoner’s head.

One of the lightkeeper’s hands drew gentle circles on V’s back, the other playing with the ends of his black silky hair that was becoming drenched on the sweat that slid down his neck like small beads of a broken necklace.

V trembled, pressing his hands hard against Wanderley’s chest, clenching them and giving the man a hard audible punch as if trying to pry himself from what should have been a tender embrace.

“You’re safe, Vitale, I’m here,” Wanderley mumbled, placing a kiss on V’s hair, repeating the words, ignoring the second punch that hit him once more.

“You’re safe.”

Usually, that was enough. It would take only a few more minutes of this calming words and movements until either V lolled back into a peaceful dreamless sleep or for him to slowly wake. But now, regardless of how much Wanderley tried to soothe him, it seemed that nightmare was clinging to him like a parasite.

He watched a soft shift on the tattoos that covered V’s pale skin, the cold sweat glistening under the play of light, almost as if following the shifting ink.

This was a first.

There had been one time while a particularly hard nightmare that V had accidentally released Shadow only for the demon to lay in bed with the confused V and Wanderley. But the lightkeeper had never seen the tattoos move, especially not with a nightmare. It was almost as if the nightmare was actually affecting the demons too.

Was he dreaming of what happened to him? Of what had been done to him while he was under the control and torture of Pandemonia and her cultists?

Wanderley was certain that was what plagued his dreams. Nightmares of the corruption that poisoned and nearly killed V before, of whatever form of torture he endured while Pandemonia held control over him. He was a mess when they finally got him back, even the demons appeared wary and suspicious of the crew.

V twitched and struggled, pushing Wanderley away, and he let go of the summoner, lest he be punched a third time as the summoner was becoming more and agitated.

He was becoming vocal now, groaning, and vocalizing words that Wanderley couldn’t exactly understand but that came out agonizing, strangled. Like desperate pleas that cut deep into his very core.

Once again he tried to reach for V, only for V to start to shudder, clutching the sheets under him, kicking the blankets and pillows away as if he was trapped or trying to take something off of him. His body arched and for a second it almost appeared as he was having convulsions.

Concern flooded the redhead like a heavy drowning wave and he sat up. He tried to reach for V once more and hold him, get him to stop, perhaps try to pry him awake, despite knowing he barely ever awoke lucid from these. Suddenly, V yelled, green hazy eyes bursting open, glazed over by the madness of the nightmare as ink splattered right out of his skin, like a burst of rain.

V’s hair became milky white and the tattoos faded as both Shadow and Griffon came out of the ink, followed by Nightmare, who was was smaller than usual.

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!” Griffon yelled.

The demonic blue bird flew around the room disoriented, thunder charging within his very form, looking for a target as if a demon had gone mad. Even Shadow appeared confused. The demonic panther looking for something, red lines crossing her form angrily as she cowered rather menacingly like a cornered cat, getting closer to the summoner.

“The fuck?! What is going on?! V! Buddy! Shit! You can’t call a bird like that! ”

Wanderley jumped out off the bed, rushing to the three demons. Before they attacked anything. He chased after the avian demon first, as he was always the instigator, trying desperately to catch Griffon. His eyes shifting from him to the bed as he heard the sound of rustling.

V had sat up, his breathing coming out as a heavy sickly wheeze, white bangs hiding his stormy green eyes, lips parted, panting heavily. He held a hand over his chest. His frame appeared so small and frail right now. He was an already pale man, but right now, he appeared almost ghostly, his skin glistening ivory under the faint moonlight that shyly peered in through the window, casting pearlescent heavy shadows over him.

He almost appeared like the day he was born, incomplete and undone.

_Okay, stop the demons first!_ Wanderley decided.

“Griffon, it’s okay!” The lightkeeper yelled, jumping at the bird that flapped around the room crazily.

With a sudden yank, Griffon was pulled down by his large talons, and before he could struggle, Wanderley wrapped his arms around the large bird’s torso, trying to contain his wingspan between his arms.  The bird flapped against his face, the large beak dangerously snapping too close to the redhead’s neck for comfort.

“Let go of me! You fucking ghost chimpanzee!” Griffon yelled.

“It’s okay! Griffon! It’s me! It’s okay!” Wanderley yelled, tightening his hold around the bird that was starting to charge up the electricity.

“Wait, ghost chimpanzee? Van Hellsing?! It’s you! Where are we?!” Griffon suddenly stopped, recognizing the voice.

Finally, the bird’s eyes seemed to focus on him and there was recognition. The thunder died down and the bird stopped. The panther also seemed to finally recognize him and ran over bumping her large head against Wanderley’s leg. With all this he had forgotten about the biggest of the three demons and sighed relieved when saw that Nightmare, without a target simply had sat down, looking mindlessly at its master, patiently waiting.

“We’re not… This is Devil May Cry!” Griffon sounded surprised. “Heh, we’re okay! Heh! Yo, Shakespeare! We’re okay! It’s okay! It wasn’t real! Woot! Fuck yeah!”

Griffon started laughing almost hysterically.

“Fuck! I thought she had caught us again! Fuck! That was scary!” Griffon confessed. “I have never been so happy to be manhandled by a halfwit light ghost Van Hellsing wannabe!”

Wanderley let go of the bird that flew off to perch on top a chest in the room. For once relieved the demon was again insulting him.

He turned around to face V who’s breathing still sounded uneasy and laboured.

_What were you dreaming off? What did she do to you? Heck, what did she do to the demons for them to share of your nightmares?_

The redhead man did not voice his questions and slowly walked to V. Hands open, waiting to see if there was any semblance of lucidity on the man or if he was still being plagued by the aftermath of whatever horrid dream had gone so far as to disorient even the demons.

“V?” He called. “Vitale?”

“I’m…” V started. “I’m fine…” there was a pant, “rest assured. I am fine…”

He didn’t sound fine.

Shaking his head, Wanderley walked to the bed and placed a knee over the mattress, right in front of V. He reached over for V, who, without voicing anything looked up at him. Wander gently cupped his cheek, brushing it soothingly and V tried to grin, that confident smug grin, failing at the wary turmoil that tainted his dark green eyes, stubbornly trying to appear as if everything was alright.

“I-it appears I woke you,” he mumbled. “My apologies. I will get up, so you can rest.”

Wanderley wrapped his arms around V’s stomach and using the entire weight of his stronger body, pushed V back into bed. The green-eyed man gasped, surprised, meeting amber eyes.

“Nope, you’re my pillow. You’re not going anywhere,” Wanderley stated.

And Wanderley settled his head right between V’s neck and shoulder, pecking his neck gently as if hoping that soft brush of lips was enough to cast the pain away. The summoner laced his fingers through Wanderley’s dark red hair, gently brushing it and kissing the top of his hair with a softer smile.

Not budging from V, Wanderley looked over at the three demons and grinned.

“What you three waiting for? Cuddle pile!”

Shadow was the first to run over. The large panter jumped onto the bed, laying right next to the two of them and pressing her soft body against V. Griffon shrugged and flew over, perching on one of the many pillows above their heads. Nightmare was the only one left, but Wanderley signalled it over, and it, being the hulking giant that it was, ran to the four of them, and wrapped its body around the entire pillow fort, actually causing the bed to break under his weight, pulling the sheets and pillows so that they were partially on the mattress and partially on it. Its mass hanging over and around them almost like a protective cave.

“Oh, for the love of-” V sighed. “Is this for real?”

“Shut up and sleep! You woke everyone up,” Wanderley grinned. “We all need to rest!”

V watched him and shook his head, with a smile. Finally giving in, V laid back down, against the body of Nightmare and sighed, closing his relieved tired green eyes as they met the amber eyes of his lover. Wanderley smiled and pecked his collarbone gently.

Yet, Wanderley waited. Waited for his lover’s chest to start raising gently and calmly as his breathing slowed down to a soothing rhythm. And he listened to it, drawing gentle circles on V’s chest until he was certain V had drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

“You’re safe,” Wanderley mumbled. “All of you… You’re safe.”

“Go to sleep, Van Hellsing,” Griffon whispered back. “He knows! We know.”

Wanderley looked up at V. The beautiful white hair contrasting against dark lashes and high cheekbones, brow now relaxed, as he slept peacefully framed by all his demons. With a small smile, Wanderley made himself comfortable, listening to the soft heartbeat underneath him and the purring by his side.

But he didn’t fall asleep.

No.

His sleep was gone, replaced by a need to understand, to know what had been done to the man he loved.

**Author's Note:**

> Can also be read at my tumblr at https://shahkiertai.tumblr.com/post/185244533630/nightmares-dmc-oneshot-vxmoc


End file.
